Assistant Professor/Director of Music Education

Position Title: Assistant Professor/Director of Music Education

Department: Music

Campus Location: Washburn University

Application Deadline:  Application review will begin as applications are received and will continue until the position is filled. Applicants can be assured of full consideration if submitted by: March 27, 2025.

Position Summary: Washburn University’s Department of Music invites applications for the position of Director of Music Education. The position will begin August 1, 2025. This position is a nine-month, tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor. A completed doctorate is necessary for tenure-track appointment.

Each selected candidate will have a demonstrated commitment to pursuing teaching excellence at Washburn University, including a dedication to developing teaching practices that engage students from all backgrounds.

Washburn University is a teaching-focused, student-centered, public institution that has earned national recognition for its high-impact programs for first-generation students and that is located in the metropolitan setting of Topeka. Washburn has a student body of over 5,500 undergraduate, graduate, and law students, a significant and growing number of whom are first-generation and Pell-Grant eligible. The university has created educational pathways for all students to be successful and achieve their education goals.

Washburn is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a vibrant faculty, staff, and student body and cultivating a vibrant learning and working environment and curriculum. We employ more than one thousand faculty and staff on our campuses throughout Topeka and strive to offer competitive wages, an excellent benefits program, and a supportive culture and a healthy work/life balance. Washburn seeks to create an environment that reflects our core values for creating positive IMPACT: inclusion, modernization, partnership, achievement, community and transformation. In 2024, Washburn was recognized as one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to Great Colleges to Work For® program.

Essential Functions:
• Fulfill teaching expectations associated with tenure-track appointment. Teach 12-hours per semester (either in-person or online, according to departmental needs) or equivalent full workload as outlined in the faculty handbook.
• Teach and develop undergraduate music education majors, classes, and seminars as assigned and as dependent upon department needs, which may include WU 101 Washburn Experience, Introduction to Music Education, Foundations of Elementary Music, Secondary Choral Methods, general education courses or some combination of classes consistent with the candidate’s training and interests.
• Fulfill service expectations associated with tenure-track appointment by engaging in service activities in the department, university, and profession.
• Committed to develop and maintain an active portfolio of scholarly research/creative activities and service including a national and international profile.
• Additional responsibilities may include the advising of undergraduate music education majors, and participation on department committees.
• Serving as liaison to the Washburn University Department of Education.
• Organization and supervision of music education teaching practicum and student teaching experiences.
• Perform additional job-related duties as assigned or as appropriate.

Required Qualifications:
• Doctorate in Music or Doctorate in Musical Arts, ABD applicants will be considered with completion of doctorate by August 1, 2026.
• A minimum of three-years of PreK – 12 public school music teaching.
• A minimum of two-years of teaching music education at the postsecondary level.
• Experience coordinating/supervising music teaching field experiences at the postsecondary level.
• Demonstrated dedication to developing teaching practices that engage students from all backgrounds.
• Official educational transcripts are required at time of hire.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience with state and national education accreditation entities.
• Experience with assessment of music education programs.
• Experience with current instructional technology approaches in music education.
• Evidence of an established record of research in music education.

Exempt, Full time, Background Check Required

Special Instructions to Applicants: Please upload the following materials to the “additional document” field via the electronic application: letter of application and statement of philosophy of music education.
• Contact information for three professional references will be collected as part of the application form.
• The successful candidate will be required to submit to a background check prior to employment.
• Official transcripts are required once hired.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Dr. Joseph DeSota, joseph.desota@washburn.edu.